Bimodal BI

Kansas City

SQLSaturday

10/3/2015

Melissa CoatesSolution Architect, BlueGranite

blue-granite.com

Blog: sqlchick.com

Twitter: @sqlchick

Power BIArchitecture, Integration Points, Implementation Options

Agenda:

1. Brief Overview and Evolution of Power BI

2. Implementation Options & Architecture

3. Bimodal BI

4. Recap + QuestionsSlides are available at

sqlchick.com

under ‘Presentations and

Downloads’

Power BIArchitecture, Integration Points, Implementation Options

Overview

&

Evolution of Power BI

Set of tools targeted primarily at analysts & power users to facilitate

acquiring, cleansing, standardizing, modeling, presenting & sharing of data.

Components of Power BI

Power

QueryPower

Pivot

Power View,

Power Map,

Excel PivotTable,

Excel PivotChart

| ------------ Power BI Desktop ----------- |

| ------------------ Excel ------------------ |

Reports,

Dashboards,

Sharing,

Q&A

Power BI

Site

Mobile

App

Typical Users of Microsoft Reporting Tools

Reporting Services

Datazen

PerformancePoint

Visio Services

Power BI Desktop

Power Pivot

Power Query

Power Map

Report Builder

Power View

Excel

Corporate BI Self-Service BI

Evolution of Power BI

V1: Power BI for Office 365GA Release Feb 2014

Excel Add-Ins

V2: Power BI DashboardsGA Release July 2015

Excel Add-Ins or Power BI Desktop

Integrated with Office 365 +

SharePoint OnlineIndependent Software as a Service

Data must be replicated in Excel

Data Model (Power Pivot)

Support for Excel Data Model +

Additional Data Sources, SaaS

Connectors, and APIs

Will be retired; customers required

to migrate to new Power BI service

Scope: Self-Service BIScope: Self-Service BI +

elements of Corporate BI/Analytics

Fast release cycles

Implementation Options

&

Architecture

Power BI Implementation Options

Excel Add-Ins and/or

Power BI Desktop only

Power BI for Office 365 (V1)

Power Pivot for SharePoint

Power BI (V2)

1

4a

On-Premises Cloud Services

Hybrid Environment

Pyramid Analytics Server (part of V2)

3

2

Integrated with Custom Application (part of V2)

4b

4c

V1 Deprecated

Excel Add-Ins and/or Power BI Desktop Only No usage of a portal collaboration area

Power BI (V2) End-to-End

Authoring Environments

Power BI Desktop Excel Add-Ins Power BI Service

New tool of choice

for creating queries,

data model, and

reports

Monthly release cycle

for new features

PBIX format

Includes Power Query,

Power Pivot, and

Power View add-ins

Much slower release

cycle of new features

due to Excel

integration

XLSX format

The web portal

component for sharing

& collaboration

Dashboards and Q&A

must be created in the

web portal; reports can

optionally be edited in

the web

Caution! There’s no download ability (PBIX or XLSX) yet from the Power BI Service.

Since a report originally uploaded from PBI Desktop or Excel can be modified in the

web, need to be careful with where ‘original’ resides.

Deciding Which Tool to Use?

Power BI Desktop Excel Add-Ins

You run an older Excel version

You have 32-bit Excel

You want the newest features as

quickly as possible

You want to access SaaS

connectors & other new sources

Release cycle: new Power BI Desktop

msi installer 1x / month *

You already have an Excel 2013 click-

to-run version that supports the

Power add-ins running in 64-bit mode

Your analysts feel strongly about

using Excel vs another tool

You want to use pivot tables, pivot

charts, and/or cube functions

It’s likely you’ll upsize to SSAS Tabular

* Although Power BI Desktop updates monthly, the Power BI Service (online) updates more

frequently - you have no control over new features being introduced to the Service.

Authoring & Reuse of Power BI ObjectsA dashboard can

contain elements

from many reports.

A report can

reference data from

one dataset.

A single dataset can

be reused among

various reports.

Two Types of Datasets

Embedded Dataset

An in-memory columnar data structure.

Limited to 250MB compressed in size which

applies to storage limits.

In this situation, the data is *stored* in the

dataset and imported to the Power BI Service.

Requires refresh schedule to stay current.

Embedded datasets can be created various ways:

Pull

Power BI Desktop

Power Pivot Excel add-in

SaaS Connector (SaaS Content Pack)

Push

Streaming data (Azure Stream Analytics)

API library

Direct Connect Dataset

Queries are live back to original data source.

Useful for utilizing existing data investments,

larger datasets that cannot or should not be

replicated, and when row-level security is

required.

No refresh schedule is required.

In this situation, the dataset in the Power BI

service is a connection string only.

Direct connect supported for:

Azure SQL DB

Azure SQL DW

Spark (HDInsight or On-Prem)

SSAS Tabular

Importing vs. Connecting to Data

Type of Item Import Connect

Embedded dataset from

Power BI Desktop

YesPower BI Refresh

Embedded dataset from

Excel – imported

YesPower BI Refresh

Embedded dataset from

Excel – stored in OneDrive

YesNo Refresh

Direct connect dataset

(from either Power BI

Desktop or Excel)

YesNo Refresh

Using an ‘Embedded’ DatasetData Stored & Refreshed in the Power BI Service

Refreshing an ‘Embedded’ DatasetWhen is a Personal Gateway Needed?

On-Premises

Data Source

Cloud Data

Source

SaaS

Connector

Gateway is needed to schedule refresh.

Typically no gateway is necessary for online sources.

Refreshed automatically once a day.

Direct

Connect

No refresh schedule needed. Though the Power BI service does

query the data source ~10 minutes to keep dashboard tiles

current (not configurable).

Refreshing an ‘Embedded’ DatasetPersonal Gateway on User Machines

Source: https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/649846-power-bi-personal-gateway

Communicates

on outbound

ports: TCP 443

(default), 5671,

5672, 9350

thru 9354.

Does not

require

inbound ports.

Using a ‘Direct Connect’ DatasetLive Queries to Source (No Data is Stored in Power BI Service)

Workspaces, Sharing, and Collaboration

Power BI Service Limits

# of reports per

dataset: 200

(Multi-page reports

still count as 1)

# of

datasets:

200

Size for embedded dataset

(non-direct connect):

250MB compressed

# of

dashboards:

100

# of reports:

40,000

Workspace data storage:

1 GB (Free license)

10 GB (Pro license)

API calls:

Single push: 10,000 rows

Continuous push: 500 rows once per second

Max rows per table: 5,000,000 (or 2,000,000 if continuous)

Pending requests: 5

Per user account or group:

Per tenant: Global data storage: 10 GB x # of Pro licenses purchased

Sharing to a group > 500 members is

not supported

Who Needs a Pro License?Freemium model: Free license & Pro license

Retail pricing of a Power BI Pro license is $9.99 / user / month.

Both producers and consumers need a Pro license if

any ‘paid’ features are being utilized.

Paid features include content which is:

Scheduled to be refreshed more frequently than daily

Streamed in excess of 10k rows/hour

Receives data via a direct connect data source (ex: SSAS Tabular)

Receives data via the Data Management Gateway or Personal Gateway

Shared across one or more Power BI Pro users

Published via organizational content packs

Published to a Group workspace

Queries shared via the Data Catalog (not yet available in V2)

Power BI (V2) End-to-End

Bimodal BI

Bimodal BI & Analytics

Traditional

Corporate BI

Defined IT-driven processes

Reliable

Governed & secured

Standardized

Agile

Self-Service BI

Business-driven

Rapid delivery

“Less” governance

Exploration freedom

Two “modes” for development

& delivery of information

Use Cases for Power BI

Power BI used for

data shaping,

modeling, and

reporting(data typically is

replicated & refreshed

in Power BI)

• Small individual self-service projects

• Data mashups (up to 250MB compressed in web)

• One-time or infrequent analysis

• ‘On the fly reporting’ with Q&A

• Standalone SaaS connectors

• APIs to programmatically push data to Power BI

Query Model Report

Power BI used for

reporting only(data queries only; not

replicated in Power BI)

• Requires direct connection to source data

• Reports from source w/ higher data volumes

• Reports from source w/ row level security (SSAS Tabular)

Report Only

Bimodal BI: Where Power BI Can Fit

Self-Service BI Corporate BI

Upsize

Mashup of

different

data sources

Standalone SaaS

Connectors

(ex: SalesForce,

CRM)

Application

Integration

(APIs)

Machine

LearningStreaming

Data

Warehouse

SSAS Tabular

ModelExcel Data Model

(Power Pivot) Prototype

One-time or

infrequent

analysis

Augment

corporate

BI solutionsPower BI Reporting

Supply info

needed

very quicklyData

LakeAnalytical

DW & Analytics Environment

Recap +

Questions

Recap of Main Points Various options, each with its own strengths and shortcomings, will

remain as viable choices for delivery:• Excel (Add-Ins Only)

• Power Pivot for SharePoint (On-Premises)

• Pyramid Analytics (3rd Party On-Premises)

• Power BI (SaaS)

• Coming at a later date: More complete integration within applications

Power BI is continually evolving and growing in its role as a self-

service BI tool, as well as elements of corporate BI

A hybrid approach can be utilized to take advantage of existing

BI/DW assets

A purposeful “Bimodal BI” approach can attempt to balance many

different agile and traditional needs

Things to Consider Getting Started Decision on using Power BI Desktop, or Excel, or both

Use of Office 365 unified groups

Organization of content by subject area and/or user security boundaries

Securing access to content and row-level security needs

Types of users; who will be consumers vs publishers

Data source types and usage

Options for distributing, publishing, sharing content

Melissa Coates

Twitter: @sqlchick

Blog: sqlchick.com

Check “Presentations & Downloads” at sqlchick.com for this slide deck.

Creative Commons License:

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivative Works 3.0

Thanks for Attending!